Sonic and Tails sat at the table, reading the newspaper.
"Flooding a lot these days, isn't it," Sonic remarked, looking at the weather section.
Tails nodded. "Guess so. It's sorta weird, though, because it hasn't even been raining or anything."
"Mm." The hero put down the newspaper and walked over to the living room. "I'm going to watch TV. At least the pictures are MOVING, unlike all these words."
The screen flickered on, and Sonic flipped to the Discovery Channel after discovering that Mythbusters was on. The TV show was a win-win for the boys, because Tails liked to see the science while Sonic liked watching things blow up. Savage the Wildcat was just explaining the myth for today(whether or not Jawbreakers would explode if put in the microwave), while Moustache the Walrus contemplated highly explosive chemicals in the offending candies. They were just getting set to bust the myth when a face with a moustache even bigger than Moustache's showed up on the screen. "People of Mobius," it declared, "I am Dr. Eggman Robotnik, soon to be ruler of the universe!" He paused for a quick maniacal laugh while Sonic turned to his brother.
"Wow, I didn't think he'd actually take that to heart. It'll be kind of funny, though, having a nemesis named after a chicken byproduct."
Robotnik came back from his trip into the Land of Maniacal Laughter and resumed his speech, waving at a hulking, watery figure behind him with glowing green eyes. "This is my good fiend Chaos. Right now he is in his Zero form, but watch this!" The fat villain held up the cyan Chaos Emerald and tossed it to the creature. "Watch and be amazed!" The monster caught the emerald, drawing it inside itself. Chaos glowed, metamorphosing into... the same creature. "Fear the new Chaos, Chaos 1!"
"Now back to your regularly scheduled program." The announcer, well, announced, and Mythbusters came back on. But the damage was done.
"Well, that was... interesting," Sonic remarked. "They probably couldn't have come up with a more original name for the first form of that Chaos creature than Chaos 1, though. What was the difference, anyway?"
Tails shook his head. "The difference is, now we're short one emerald!" He tapped his chin. "Oh, and I think it grew some bones in one arm."
His friend shrugged. "Same difference."
"Actually, a same difference, as you say, would be a physiological impossibility, and therefore an oxymoron-" He caught the speed demon's glare and trailed off. "Right. Same difference. Got it."
"Whatever." Sonic stood up and walked out the door. "Well, I'm going to go take care of this Chaos, and maybe cause some along the way. See ya!" He ran out the open doorway and was quickly out of sight.
The fox set out the dinner plates. He scratched his head over whether or not to put one down for Sonic, but eventually decided to, just in case. He hoped that he wouldn't be here in time for dinner, because today was the day that Amy had insisted on inviting everyone to a dinner party at the sidekick's house. It was a good thing I built a dish washer the other day, Tails reflected.
The doorbell rang. The golden vulpine opened the door, revealing a slightly aggravated Knuckles. "I sure hope that guard machine works," he growled. "Or you will FEEL MY FIST." He stomped inside to his place.
The doorbell rang again, and Tails let Amy Rose in. "Oh wow, this will be SO romantic!" she gushed. "All it needs is my boyfriend! Hey, sidekick, do you know where Sonic the Hedgehog is?"
"He went out to go defeat that monster Robotnik was talking about. And my name is Tails."
"Well, whatever. Even if he's not here, you can stand in, right? Tails, was it?"
"Umm...Well..." The fox hemmed and hawed, trying to get out of this. "Oh, yeah!" he exclaimed, glad of the excuse. "I forgot about the Flicky! It's probably burnt by now..."
Amy narrowed her eyes. "I'm vegetarian." She tossed her quills, and Tails saw that she must have been older than he had thought she was, because the female looked to be about 14 now, even though only a year had passed since he had last met her. She wore a red dress now with white trim, red boots with a white stripe going down the middle, her red headband, and ring bracelets, and her quills were arranged more like an echidna's now. Tails had to admit that the style change befitted her greatly. "And I've got to maintain my girlish figure," she added when she noticed the fox staring at her. "What? Haven't you seen a girl in new clothes before?" She noticed his blank look. "Hello? Shopping spree?"
The valiant fox shook himself out of his reverie and went to tend the Flicky.
Ten minutes later, the blue hedgehog showed up, a little out of breath. "Okay, Knuckles? I need your help with..."
The echidna stood up and pounded the table. "If it's about the Master Emerald, no you don't! I locked it up with Tails's security thingamajig!" He pulled out what looked like a mobile phone. "Still. I'll just check it, to make sure." He hit a few buttons, then his eyes narrowed. "So. That's how it is. Well, mister hedgehog, where is it?"
"Where is what?"
"The Master Emerald, fool!"
"What about it?"
"Don't play dumb! I had it all locked up with Tails's..." He looked around. "So. I see. You, mister I'm So Smart fooled me into believing your phony security thing worked while this blue..." He trailed off as he noticed the seven year old's gaze and the ten year old lady's stare and amended his word. "...villain snuck off and stole MY EMERALD!"
"That's enough." Sonic's voice was suddenly strong, all sense of fun gone from it now. "You can call me what you like, but keep your mouth off of my brother!"
Knuckles walked over to the door. "Let's take this outside, then. Winner gets these beautes." He took out two Chaos Emeralds from his hammer space, laying them gently on the table.
"You're on." Sonic's voice was determined, and his gaze didn't waver.
The two walked outside and began fighting, Knuckles throwing a punch here, Sonic dodging everything and getting a few kicks in, Knuckles retaliating with a well timed slug or two, until Tails noticed something moving. It looked like a puddle, so he ignored it, turning his attention back to the fighting.
Chaos reformed inside the house. He slid over to the table, ignoring the scraps of Flicky on Tails's and Knuckles's plates and concentrating instead on the two glittering gems on the table. He took in both of them, turning into his fourth form, Chaos 4, a froglike creature with a humped back, four limbs with fins, and a tail. The two fighters, noticing the light in the house, forgot about their complaints and settled on fighting the monster, especially after witnessing it looking at a portable television screen from which Robotnik praised him for distracting the hedgehog and echidna while he grabbed the Master Emerald.
"So that was how he took it," whispered Knuckles. "That sneak probably hacked through that passcode in the hour it took me to get down here." He shared a glance with Sonic, and the two burst out from behind the door, prompting the creature to run past it into the Mystic Ruins.
Meanwhile, Amy, who had seen the Egg Carrier passing overhead and who had caught a small Flickie who fell out of it, who she immediately nicknamed Lily, was being kidnapped by a robot without the others' noticing...